Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) www.sassofia.com Considers the practical issues associated with the requirement for regulatory compliance for EASA Drone “OPS”.
Who is an ‘Uninvolved person’?
- Not participating in the UAS operation or
- Who is not aware of the instructions and safety precautions given by the UAS (drone) operator’.
Who is an Involved Person?
- Chooses to be a part of the operation
- Understands the risk and
- Is able to check the position of the drone while it is flying.
- Provides explicit consent to be a part of the operation (e.g. consent to be overflown by the drone)
- Shall receive from the drone operator/remote pilot instructions and safety precautions to be applied in case of an emergency situation; and
- Be available to check the position of the drone and, in case of an incident, take action to avoid being hit.
Uninvolved Persons
- Spectators gathered for sport activities, concerts, or other mass events; people on a beach or in a park, or walking on the streets.
- Could also be a person who is in a bus, car, etc., and who is indirectly exposed.
- The driver of a car in proximity to the Drone.
Assembly of People
- An assembly of people densely packed that their possibility to freely escape or move away from the drone is limited, then it is considered to be an assembly of people.
o Sport, cultural, religious or political events;
o Beaches or parks on a sunny day;
o Commercial streets during the opening hours of the shops; or
o Ski resorts/tracks/lanes.
Drone Proximity to Uninvolved Persons
The ‘open’ category is itself subdivided into three sub-categories – A1, A2, A3 — which may be summarised as follows:
- A1: fly over people but not over assemblies of people;
- A2: fly close to people;
- A3: fly far from people.
In General, when you operate in the ‘open’ category, you are not allowed to fly over uninvolved people, unless you have a privately built drone with a weight below 250 g or a drone purchased on the market with a class identification label 0 or 1 mark.
Note – should minimise the time during which you fly over people.
Class 2 – Subcategory A2:
Lateral distance from any uninvolved person should be maintained using the ‘1:1 rule’.
UA is flying at a height of 40 m, distance should be at least 40 m never closer than 30 metres horizontally from any uninvolved person.
Note If equipped with a low-speed mode function and this is active, you can fly as close as 5 metres from uninvolved people.
Next Steps
Sofema Aviation Services www.sassofia.com and Sofema Online www.sofemaonline.com provide regulatory compliant vocational training compliant with EASA regulations. For further information and support please email team@sassofia.com
Tags:
aviation, Aviation Training, Drone Operations, Drones, EASA Drone “OPS”, EASA Drone Operations, EASA regulations, Regulatory Compliance, UAS operation
